Papers

Published Papers

2024

1. AJAE

   Women’s Work and Agricultural Productivity Gaps in India

   Kajal Gulati, Koustuv Saha, and Travis J. Lybbert

   American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Aug 2024

   Abs

   

   Most studies on gender gaps in agricultural productivity leverage within-household differences between plots managed by women and men. Such a gender-based division of plot management simplifies empirical tests for productivity differences, but it is not a common arrangement for agricultural households outside some locations in sub-Saharan Africa. In most rural households, women and men jointly participate in production, which complicates identification of gender-based productivity differences. This study proposes a broader empirical test of productivity gaps that applies to such systems, and that is rooted not explicitly in gender but in gender-based inequities. Specifically, we explore productivity gaps in rice-cultivating Indian households, where women and men perform specific and distinct cultivation tasks. We measure productivity gaps based on the differential use of family and hired female labor across households, then compare them with gaps based on the differential use of family and hired male labor. Using plot-level data, we identify significant gender-based productivity gaps after controlling for input use, plot-and household-level characteristics, and using village fixed effects and machine learning estimators to address selection and model misspecification concerns. Based on this identification strategy, households using family female labor have lower agricultural productivity, on average, than those also hiring female workers, such that foregone production value is greater than the cost of hiring women. We find suggestive evidence that this gap stems from skill differences between hired and family female workers. In contrast, we find ...

2023

1. SNS

   Women’s Land Ownership and Household Decisions: Implications for Child Health in Rural India

   Koustuv Saha, Vijay Laxmi Pandey, and S. Mahendra Dev

   In Axes of Sustainable Development and Growth in India: Essays in Honour of Professor Jyoti K. Parikh, May 2023

   Published book chapter

   Abs Bib

   

   This study explores the effects of women’s land ownership on economic empowerment, maternal and child health outcomes in rural India. Using NFHS-4 data, the findings suggest that increased access to land improves women’s decision-making power and positively affects child nutrition, particularly for children under age five.

   @incollection{Saha2023land,
     author = {Saha, Koustuv and Pandey, Vijay Laxmi and Dev, S. Mahendra},
     title = {Women’s Land Ownership and Household Decisions: Implications for Child Health in Rural India},
     booktitle = {Axes of Sustainable Development and Growth in India: Essays in Honour of Professor Jyoti K. Parikh},
     pages = {137--169},
     publisher = {Springer Nature Singapore},
     year = {2023},
     month = may,
     url = {https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=A8wzNe8AAAAJ&citation_for_view=A8wzNe8AAAAJ:d1gkVwhDpl0C},
     note = {Published book chapter}
   }

Working Papers

2024

1. Working

   Strategy and Coordintion in Risky Household Decisions: Evidence from Bangaldesh

   Koustuv Saha

   2024

   JMP

   Abs

   Social norms that restrict women’s participation in certain domains of household decision making, such as farming and capital purchase decisions, can create asymmetric information between spouses, complicating coordination. This study examines whether married couples in rural Bangladesh successfully coordinate risk-taking across their respective domains of household decision-making when faced with asymmetric information. Using a novel two-stage lottery-choice game between husbands and wives, I show that only a quarter of couples successfully coordinate risk-taking decisions, while most either assume excessive risk or become overly conservative due to misaligned beliefs about each other’s choices in the joint-decision. Households where spouses exhibit greater divergence in individual risk preferences are particularly prone to coordination errors, as each spouse attempts to counteract the other’s choice. This study provides novel evidence on how strategic decisions by spouses in the presence of intrahousehold information frictions cause inefficient risk-sharing and distort critical financial decisions, potentially affecting long-term household welfare.

2. Working

   Agricultural Mechanization and Gendered Structural Transformation in India

   Koustuv Saha, Kajal Gulati, and Sam Bird

   2024

   Abs Bib

   

   This study investigates the impact of agricultural mechanization on gendered labor shifts in rural India. It explores whether female-friendly job opportunities could have mitigated the decline in female labor force participation following mechanization. Using the staggered rollout of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the study finds that female labor days fell regardless of the program’s presence, contradicting expectations. Instrumental variable techniques using soil texture variations are employed to address endogeneity concerns.

   @unpublished{Saha2024mechanization,
     author = {Saha, Koustuv and Gulati, Kajal and Bird, Sam},
     title = {Agricultural Mechanization and Gendered Structural Transformation in India},
     booktitle = {Forthcoming},
     year = {2024},
     url = {https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=A8wzNe8AAAAJ&citation_for_view=A8wzNe8AAAAJ:u5HHmVD_uO8C}
   }

3. Working

   Gender Role Attitudes and Female Labour Participation: Evidence from Egypt

   Koustuv Saha, Kajari Saha, and Shraddha Yadav

   2024

   Abs Bib

   

   This study examines the relationship between gender role attitudes and female labor force participation in Egypt. Using regional fixed effects and instrumental variable methods, it addresses exclusion restrictions and correlated effects across regions of residence. The findings contribute to understanding gender-based labor constraints in developing economies.

   @unpublished{Saha2024egypt,
     author = {Saha, Koustuv and Saha, Kajari and Yadav, Shraddha},
     title = {Gender Role Attitudes and Female Labour Participation: Evidence from Egypt},
     booktitle = {Forthcoming},
     year = {2024},
     url = {https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=A8wzNe8AAAAJ&citation_for_view=A8wzNe8AAAAJ:u-x6o8ySG0sC}
   }